Argentina, Brazil build bridges 

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Argentina this week with hundreds of business leaders in tow to patch over differences that surfaced at last week's failed global trade talks.

Farming giant Brazil softened its stance against wealthy countries' agricultural subsidies in the Doha round of trade talks but the negotiations collapsed when Argentina and others opposed the deal, saying it would hurt farmers.

"The frustration of the Doha round demands that we redouble our efforts in other arenas to eliminate distortions and barriers in international trade," Lula said at a seminar of business leaders from the two countries.

"Argentina and Brazil can lead the response to those challenges from Mercosur and South America."

Earlier in the day, Lula said in his weekly radio address that world trade talks would continue despite the impasse.

Brazil and Argentina are members of the Mercosur customs union, which also includes Paraguay and Uruguay, but Argentina had a US$2.7 billion trade deficit with its larger neighbor in the first half of the year.

Regional powerhouse Brazil recently obtained investment grade rating from Standard & Poor's and is a major investor in Argentina's energy, meatpacking, cement, textile and other industries.

Business leaders traveling with Lula said they were looking beyond Doha to investment opportunities in Argentina and elsewhere.

"We have to build a post-Doha agenda, an agenda of bilateral trade agreements. The European Union is one of them," said Paulo Skaf, president of the Sao Paulo state Federation of Industry.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Argentina on Monday for a brief three-way meeting of the left-leaning presidents.

Venezuela has applied to become a member of Mercosur but legislators in Paraguay and Brazil have yet to ratify its entry.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, speaking at the same business seminar as Lula, said Argentina and Brazil can still work together to promote the interests of developing countries.

"There are moments when we feel that for the first time we are more needed than the developed countries. That should put Argentina and Brazil in synergy, deepening this alliance and this productive model," she said.

Big agricultural producers like Argentina and Brazil can potentially gain clout at a time of rising world food prices and fears of global food shortages.

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